As eclectic as G1 was, it was all still based on the Japanese mecha aesthetic. Diaclone, Microman, Macross, Dorvack, Beetras etc. all shared that common element, as did later Transformers toys made for Transformers. When you start deviating from this orthodox design core then that's when it becomes I suppose a bit weirder to mix and match the toys with G1. But don't get me wrong, deviating from the standard core isn't necessarily a bad thing. Beast Wars did this and was very successful. And you could argue that it was essential for Beast Wars to move away from the Japanese mecha aesthetic because it had already horribly failed to revive Transformers during the G2 years.

But look... design aesthetics is a pretty superficial thing, and ultimately if the toy is good then it's something that we can easily overlook. Again, as Beast Wars has proven. What really gets me with these Cyberverse toys isn't so much that they're different... it's that they're crap^sub-par. Honestly, if they made a really G1-accurate looking Starscream toy with the same design philosophy as Cyberverse Warrior Starscream, then the toy would still suck! If you look at my reviews and criticisms of the toys, none of them stem from, "Because look different." It's more to do with things like lacking articulation or being compromised by gimmicks or the lameness of the gimmicks etc. These are criticisms that I would still hold for any Transformer toy, and indeed we do have dodgy toys in every TF line including G1 (Battlechargers and Firecons, anyone?).

I guess the main difference is that other lines have been mixed bags - you have great figures, terrible figures and everything in between. So far I've only seen disappointing figures from Cyberverse. Not a single one of these toys have felt like they were worth buying. It's just been really consistently disappointing.

As for value for money, sure, our toys are overpriced. But even using the general standard price and quality of the average Transformer we can see that Cyberverse toys fall short. I deliberately took comparison pictures with previous Deluxe Class figures from the same Aligned Continuity. I didn't compare them with CHUG and I didn't compare them with Voyagers or anything else above the Deluxe Class. I tried as much as I could to compare apples with apples. And even there we can see that these aren't very good apples.

Deluxe Aligned Starscreams


Deluxe Aligned Bumblebees


Deluxe Aligned Optimus Primes


Deluxe Aligned Shockwaves


Now I've sold my Dark of the Moon Ultimate Optimus Prime, which would completely smash the Cyberverse Ultimate Optimus Prime. But then again, the old Ultimate Class was more than double the price of the current one, so it's probably not a fair comparison. There's never been a $60 price point before. The nearest ones are Voyagers ($50) and Ultras ($70). I think that Ultras vastly outclass these new Ultimates - the fact that Ultra Optimus Primal still holds his ground pretty well against Masterpiece Optimus Primal speaks volumes about the quality of that toy design.

And I'd wager that Ultra Megatron would still hold up well against the upcoming MP figure - relative to price point of course.

But how do the New Ultimates compare with the next size class down? How do they compare with the Voyagers? Well, see for yourself, and again I'm comparing Aligned with Aligned...

Voyager and Ultimate Aligned Megatrons


Voyager and Ultimate Aligned Optimus Primes


Optimus Prime especially isn't a terrible toy per se, but for a $60 I would expect those headlights to be able to get out of the way to expose the fists and for the toy to have a gun. Megatron should have elbows and an accessory (e.g. gun or sword... something!). The Legion Class toys from TF Prime have accessories and they're only $8 each! And speaking of Legions, what is up with the Cyberverse Legions only half transforming? What kid wants to play with a robot that only transforms halfway into a vehicle?!? Imagine if that happened during our childhood? Imagine if Hasbro in the 1980s released G1 toys that only half transformed.


"I'm not an alien robot, I'm cleverly in disguise!"